Any updates from recent applicants?

It's been 30 days, (though not 30 business days yet) so - hopefully - it won't be much longer now.

I wouldn't get too worried - as long as you know the application definitely arrived in Sheffield it will be processed.

You're currently only on working day 20 (non-priority), and you're probably looking at at least 30 working days for processing (30 working days for you will be 13th June). It's usually around this time of year that visas start taking a bit longer to process, with more people applying in time for the summer, so you may find you need to wait a bit longer anyway.

Hey!

It helps to remember that May has two bank holidays in it and it seems to be the official start of 'vacation' season for people with and without kids. I noticed so many of my co-workers taking holidays this month. It's no comfort, I know, but at least it gives you an idea of why it might be a bit longer this month.

*fingers crossed* for you! I hope you get your response soon!

Our timelines are fairly similar.

My fiance and I couldn't afford the consultant fee and the priority fee, so we had to go non-priority; unfortunately, my situation is getting tense at home as my parents are having a hard time understanding why it's taking so long, so we may have scrape the bottoms of our pockets and try to upgrade to priority (which my consultant chose to neglect to tell me we could do, so I'm not sure how that's actually going to go down!)

No word yet, though today my consultant's e-mail address was apparently hacked, so I got an e-mail saying "Your Document is complete" and as it happened, I couldn't view said email because it turned out to be malware.

So, you know, that was a fun hour.

Anyone currently using Butler & Brewer as a consultant, I'd suggest ignoring anything from them that looks like it came from Docusign, and calling them to verify that the email they've sent is valid before opening it.

Part of my regrets not going for the priority service, since it's clearly so much faster, but we made the decision mostly because of the cost. Still! Hopefully now the bank holiday's done they'll start cranking things up, and the next couple of weeks will hold some news for April applications

Ditto, Araenvo.

It seems weird that there are so (comparatively) few of us waiting in this thread and on some of the other ex-pat type boards I've been sneaking around on, and yet it's still taking this long for us to receive word of progress. I'm sure there are TONS of applicants who aren't on these kinds of boards, but given how long this thread is, it strikes me as ironic that there aren't more of us hanging around and making noise while we wait.

The thread has been going for almost 2.5 years though... So there are over 2 years' worth of applications recorded here.

If I remember correctly from the stats, UKVI Sheffield processes about 300 settlement visa applications per month just from the US (they also process settlement visas from about 4 other countries), so that's about 10 per day just from the US alone.

Also, May-August is the busiest time of year for visas and processing times generally slow down around now. This time last year, non-priority processing times increased from 3 weeks to about 3 months between April and the end of May. So people applied in May without priority, thinking they would get their visas in about 3 weeks and ended up having to wait until August for them... Several people upgraded to priority in June and July just to speed things up.


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Yeah, I've been half-reading back and observing how the groups of people filter in and out as they've gone through the application process. Unfortunately, I found the board after I'd submitted non-priority, so I didn't have the data to predict a pattern until it was too late to use the data.

Since I applied through a consultant, I'm a little worried that I'm going to be told I can't upgrade: do you know if I can do that on my own if I'm told it's not allowed, or if I'm going to have to bully my consultant into going through the process since she's the one that submitted my application for me?

Thanks for your patience (and yer brainzzz).

It's certainly possible to upgrade to priority after you apply - you just purchase it on the VFS Global website, then email Sheffield directly with your receipt and GWF application reference number... But I'm not sure about the fact that a consultant submitted it for you... Since correspondence with UKVI may well go through her and not you, she might need to do it herself.


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After waiting a month already it's a hard toss between upgrading and speeding things up, and hoping to save the money but hear about a decision soon anyway. There'll be a line somewhere, but what a frustrating process

Country applying from: USA (California)
Type of visa applied for: Spouse/Settlement Non-Priority
Online Application Submitted: May 27, 2016
Biometrics Taken: June 1, 2016
Application Mailed: June 2, 2016
Package Received in Sheffield: June 6, 2016
Email confirming application being prepared for consideration: June 7, 2016
Date Sheffield emailed to confirm decision has been made: TBD
Visa Arrived: TBD

Country applying from: USA(Texas)
 
Type of visa applied: Spouse/Settlement -Priority

Online application Submitted: May 29th, 2016

Biometrics taken: June 2, 2016

Application mailed: June 2, 2016

Package received in Sheffield: June 6th, 2016

Email confirming application being prepared for consideration: June 9th, 2016

Date Sheffield emailed to confirm decision has been made: TBD

Visa arrived: TBD


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Country:USA (Texas)
Type of visa applied for: Fiancé (non-priority)
Date application submitted (online): 31 March 2016
Date biometrics taken: 8 April 2016
Date email that documentation was received by UK Border Agency office: 15 April 2016
Office location processing your visa: Sheffield
Projected timeline given: 12 weeks
Date email notification of decision: 7 June 2016
Date visa was received: 9 June 2016

Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Congrats scrgirl173!

Hopefully that means they're nearer the end of April's received applications, and I'll get word soonish, too. ^^

Got a very promising email this morning - decision has been made, and the obsessive UPS tracking checks have officially begun.  Fingers crossed for the right decision...

Country applying from: USA (California)
Type of visa applied for: Spouse/Settlement Non-Priority
Online Application Submitted: May 27, 2016
Biometrics Taken: June 1, 2016
Application Mailed: June 2, 2016
Package Received in Sheffield: June 6, 2016
Email confirming application being prepared for consideration: June 7, 2016
Date Sheffield emailed to confirm decision has been made: June 13, 2016
Visa Arrived: TBD